Then, there was a knock at my door…
Ever since the start of my declining kidney function, I had been praying. Praying for strength. Praying for comfort. Praying for a living donor to step forward. Not just me praying, but for the countless others waiting and hoping.
In April of 2025, after being accepted from UNMC as a future transplant recipient, my family, friends, and I began spreading the word. This website was originally born from that urgency – a place where people could learn more, ask questions, and consider whether they might be a match or help be a champion/advocate and spread the word. I shared the need on Facebook, hoping the message would ripple outward.
A few people reached out. Some asked meaningful questions. Others said they were going to get tested, including an ex-girlfriend from 2007. I even considered using the notion, “Hey, if my ex is willing to see if she’s a match, maybe you could too.” But I never wanted to pressure anyone. What I needed were champions; people willing to help carry the message of this urgent need.
Behind the scenes, my friend Jeff had quietly begun exploring the possibility of being a match. He went through every step, every test. Some tests twice. (UNMC Transplant Center doesn’t mess around.) Despite a deep dislike of needles. He did it anyway. And it turned out, he was a possibility. His blood type was universal. Type O.
Jeff had already been supporting me in other ways. He connected me with a coworker who had received a kidney transplant three years earlier. That coworker’s brother had been his donor. Their story gave me something to aim for. It gave me someone to talk to. Someone who had walked the road I was now on.
That conversation gave me hope.
In late September, Jeff offered to stop by my house and help me sort through a list of home improvement projects. He had spent the past few years flipping houses and I needed guidance.
I didn’t know he had something else planned.
That morning, September 21, 2025, I had gone to church. They had set up a QR code for submitting prayer requests. I scanned it and sent the link to myself, planning to fill it out later. After lunch with a friend from out of town, I returned home and submitted a prayer request – for a living donor to come forward. My kidney dialysis was becoming less effective, consuming more hours of my day. And I still had two, maybe three years left on the waitlist for a deceased donor. It was not a sustainable way to live.
Jeff and I had planned to grab dinner and talk through the home projects. But the conversation took a turn. A miraculous, prayer-answering turn.
He came in, we caught up, and then he said he wanted to show me something he had created. Lately, he had been experimenting with AI and its creative possibilities. He texted me a fake book cover he had designed. It was a reimagined version of my 2005 book, Left Standing (no, not a shameless plug). This one was titled Not Left Standing.
I saw it and thought he was nudging me to write more, as he often does. The cover felt like a subtle (yet fun) encouragement.
I didn’t notice the kidney illustration on the letter “G“. I didn’t question the title. I just something like, “Oh cool, thanks for making this.” I had been thinking about using AI to help with my current book cover concept anyway.
I changed the subject after thinking he was just showing me the cover. Jeff waited patiently to steer the conversation back.
Soon I would learn he had been holding onto something big. The conversation turned back to the book cover, he had been waiting for the right moment to tell me. I would not be left standing. This in fact would be a new chapter in my life.
He was a match to donate his kidney.
He also mentioned the possibility of a cross-match. He was still thinking through that possibility from his side. So suddenly, not only did I have have one potential living donor match.
I had two.
And all of this unfolded just hours after I submitted my prayer request at church.
But this prayer had been lifted up by many. Family. Friends. People who had been praying for me since the beginning. People who believed in blessings. People who believed I’d find a living donor.
This was an answer to their prayers too.
Related Post:
The Search for a Living Kidney Donor